Tobin to appeal Vicky conviction

The man found guilty of raping and murdering Falkirk schoolgirl Vicky Hamilton is to appeal against his conviction, it has emerged.

Peter Tobin, 62, was jailed for life and ordered to serve a minimum of 30 years following a four-week trial at the High Court in Dundee.

He is also serving life for raping and murdering Polish student Angelika Kluk.

Tobin has lodged a notice with court officials stating that he intends to challenge the guilty verdict.

He is also seeking to overturn the judge's sentence, which is one of the highest ever imposed in Scotland.

His defence team is not required to state the exact grounds of the appeal until a later date.

'Horrific acts'

Vicky was last seen in the West Lothian town of Bathgate after visiting her sister Sharon in Livingston on 10 February, 1991.

Her mutilated remains were unearthed from a garden in Margate, in Kent, where Tobin also lived for a time in 1991.

During the investigation into the death of Angelika Kluk in September 2006, it emerged that Tobin had lived at 11 Robertson Avenue in Bathgate when Vicky went missing.

A subsequent search by police uncovered a knife in the property which had traces of Vicky's skin on it.

The High Court in Dundee heard that it was at this address that he drugged, raped and murdered the schoolgirl before cutting her body in two.

When sentencing him, trial judge Lord Emslie said: "Abducting and killing a child on her way home from a happy weekend with her sister and then desecrating her body must rank among the most evil and horrific acts that any human being could commit."

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